Shoe



R. JERRo Dec. 29, 1942.

SHOE

Filed Jan. 13, 1941 m 7 m m Vd .C

Patented Dec. 29, 1942 2,306,609. 1. SHOE Richard erro; N York, N. Y5,assig'nor to Jerro t Brothers, New York, N. Y.;;a copartnership y(Application January 13, 194i; 3 v (01.

. n i "1 .i l i l' filaim. invention :relates' to .a novel'sho'econstrue? tion and more particularly relates, to a novel combination of'shoeshank and upper adapted to be used in womens shoes invs rhicli theshank is so shaped and positioned withrelation to the upper that thewearers foot rests "not onlyon the rigid shank, but the sides ofthe'footalso rest upon'and are embraced by the lower portionof the shoeupper thereby obtaining a glove-like fit of the upper about the foot. i1

In women's shoes foot comfort and s'hoe: fit,

is often subservient'tos'hoestyle; Becauseofthe high heels employedandthfe. designiof the shoes;

it is necessary that arigid .s'hoe shankbe employed for the supportoflthe .arch'. This-rigid shank, although serving to support the footis'toa certain extentuncomfortable.

The keystone ,of the arch isj thecuboid bone.

The surrounding bones ofthe arch'andf metag. tarsal namely theastragalus',"v scapuoidgand icu neiform bones, iall'd'ependupon thesupporting effect of the cuboid bone; In order to obtain proper supportfor thefoot, it is necessary that the cuboid bone be maintainedinfp'roper position and that the ladjacent bones befalso held in theirproper and respective position relative to the cuboid. v v 7, v

I have found that by causing'the arch .ofthe foot to be supported inpartand to beembraced by the shoe upper, I can obtain amorescientifically improved shoe anda more comfortable sup.- port forthefoot, especially the "arch thereof.- I have further found that bycausingthe-upper be so positioned with relation to the shank, ]that the footrests partially upon the upperand is closely gripped thereby, that abetterfitof the upper, about the foot is also obtained. The afore' saidarrangement eliminates gapping buckling and looseness and furthermoreeliminates the bulges in the shoe upper that ordinarily oceur c ef-48.5).i V at" the side'sthan has hitherto benthe practice iiilth arltlg I 1 pI 'Itisa' further object of my inventlonto provide a shank, deeply cutinfat the sides so. that the upper combinedtherewith is adapted tosupport the sidesof the foot resting onthe' shank. I p

' It isa further object of nay-invention to provide a novellcombination.of shankanduppe'r so' that theshoefdrapes 'around the' foot jfrom'fthebottom to the: sides to obtai Itis"a further" object ofmy'invention m'ro; vide 1a; *non-gapping, non-bulging shoe by-fth'e' herein describedcombination {of particular. shank and upper. 'In the further descriptiono'fjmyinvention; reference is had to the drawing whichz'fj .4 i

Fig;'l is a" perspective viewof a shoe embody? ins ,theinvention on afoot, with part of broken away andin'crosssectionif l figi Zi'sa sideelevational viewof the improved shoe Onaf OO f Fig. 3 is a view similarto Fig;.'2, but showing the position of the shoe, whenthe' person wearng I m'estands uponthe'toeiff. F1g.. 4. is a'top plan view of a shoetheinventi n; r

embodying tional view taken. line 1g 1 cross sectionalview'si nilarto'Fig. 5Q

' ofa fstand ard 'shoefhav ng,a shank of 'n or'mal width showing thearch of the foot' supported on the hard shank and not' on the softupper'leather; asinlIEig'; 5. I f i Ref rring now more specifically tothe drawing, 1 there isshown'ashoe lflon awear ersffoot' ll. ThefshoejIO comprises av sole and an 'upperfattached thereto, f The upper is,shown in'the'drawing as an openiback, and is provided with the use ofordinary upper whilethe wearer of the'shoe is in the act ofwalking. st

My invention primarily is accomplished by employing a shank that is oflesser width in the longarch area than the ordinary shank and bybringing the upper out and away from the shank in such a manner thatthewearers foot rests in part on the shank and on the} sides rests onthe upper, the upper being caused to be fitted about the foot so that itclosely embraces the same. c

To obtain the foregoing effect-the upper at the uppermost edge thereofis closelystitched and relatively non-elastic, but at the lower regionthereof in the area where it-is adjacent the shank, the upper isrelatively elastic and has a certain amountof give. v

It is the object of my invention'to provide a novel combination of shankand upper.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a shoe having a shankthat is cut in deeper with gairearwardly extending'lstrap 'whi'ch -iis'adaptedto' embrace the 'upper' portlon of the heel of thefoo't ll.

'As shown in the drawing; the shank patien 6 of the sole between theheel portion thereof and; the ball portion of the sole, is out narrow onI opposite sides of the medial'line of theisole producinga shankoflnarrowed width The shank I B is narrower than shanks for standardsoles of similar size and the decrease the width of the shank is notonly on one side of the ,medialline, of thes ole but on both sidesthereof. Thus, the upper of the shoe shownin Fig. 1 of the drawing forthe v purpose of illustration, as broken away at" l3, whereby to showthat at the bottom area l4 thereon on one side of the shank of thesole,v the shoe upp r 'curves downwardly. and under. the foot 'H tosupport a porti'on of the un derside of the foot on one side of theshank. Likewise the bottom-portion of the upper on the other side of thenarrow shank also curves downa close i glove fit of t he uppel"o'nthefoota wardly under the foot to support the underside of the footon the opposite side of said shank.

The dotted line 15 in Fig. 1 indicates the line of the shank of theshoe, and it will be noted that the shank is inwardly spaced from themargin of the underside of the foot so that side portions of theunderside of the foot ll rest on portions of the upper adjacent theshank and on opposite sides of said shank.

In Figure 5 which shows in part a section along the line 5-5 of Figure2, it will be seen that the shank l6 of the shoe I is cut particularlydeeply at the side areas I! and l8 and this deep cut efiect is animportant feature of my invention in that it insures that the foot willrest upon the soft and yielding portion l4 and 20 of the upper when theshoe is worn. Diagrammatically here the upper is shown positionedbetween the shank 1'6 and the outsole '2l. Thus, the shank is ofnarrower width than standard shanks for the same size shoe, but has thesame longitudinal medial line since the edges i! and I8 are closer tosaid medial line than in standard shoes.

Figure represe'nts the positioning of the various parts of the shoe ofmy invention when a foot is placed within the shoe. The foot ll shown indotted line rests centrally upon the shank I6 and at the sides restsupon the portion [4 of the upper and the portion 20 of the upper. Thearea I4 is beneath the inside of the foot namely the portion of the footadjacent the long arch and this long arch area of the foot rests on thearea M of the upper.

Because the sides of the foot rest upon the soft and resilient upperinstead of the non-resilient and non-yielding shank l6, greater footcomfort results, and particularly a closer glove-like fit is obtainedsince in the act of walking the pressure of the foot downwardly upon theupper at M and 20 causes, for example,-the back strap 25, shown inFigure 2, of the shoe to more closely hug the heel. This elimination ofthe normal bulging or buckling of the shoe upper in the act of walkingis of great importance since this relative movement 'of the upper duringwalking is responsible for blisters and foot discomfort as well asinferior appearance. a

In Figure 4 which is a plan view of the shoe, it will be noted that thedeeply cut shank and the adjacent upper affords a partially rigid andpartially resilient support for the foot. Specifically I have found thatif I form the shank so that it is'approximately of an inch less in widthon both sides in contrast to the normal standard shank of commerce forsimilar size shoe, then I can obtain the desired results here set forth.

The shank is cut deeply not only where the arch area joins the heel asat 30 and 3|, but also at the fore part or adjacent the ball area of thefoot at 32 and 33.

In Figure 6 it will be noted that in the ordinary shoe, the foot 40rests entirely upon and is supported by the rigid unyielding shank 4|and the upper 42 and 43 serves only to hold the foot in at the sides.

In contrast to the yielding resilient support and the glove like fitshown in Figure 3, the foot here is loosely encompassed by the upper andupon mo ement can obviously cause buckling and wrinkling.

The heel area 50 (see Figure 2) is sufiicient in area to afiord full andcomplete support for the heel of the wearers foot. The principle ofemploying a resilient support of the upper applies only to the long archarea of the shoe of my invention and not to the heel area.

Further, if the arch is improperly supported and the foot health maysuffer by the dislocation of the cuboid and adjacent scaphoid bones.

Accordingly, I provide a novel shoe construction in which the shank isso cut and joined to the upper that the foot rests centrally upon theshank and at the sides upon the upper and is improving foot health andimproving shoe appearance. It is an established fact that for increasedfoot comfort and foot health it is desirable that the various bones ofthe longitudinal or long arch, namely the keystone cuboid bone andtheadjacent scaphoid; cuneiform and astragalus bones have a restrictedamount of play so that the muscles and tendons'which join the variousbones will retainor regaintheir desirable muscle tone. A limitedmovement of these parts promotes better circulation and releases crampednerves 'and blood vessels. However,iit is desirable that this relativemovement be restricted so that there will be no strain 'on the part andnoconsequent weakening. By providing the additional resilient supportfor this long or longitudinal arch area of the foot by means of thisnewly described locationing of'the upper, the proper and extremelydesirable resilient gripping of the arch and the various bones isafiorded.

From the standpoint of appearance'and style, this proper gripping of thelongitudinal arch area of the foot, obviates sagging and spreading oftenfound and more particularly because of the glove-like fit andresilientembrace of the foot by the upper, the gapping and'buckling of the upperwith respect to the foot is obviated.

' Although my invention is here described and illustrated withrespect'to a shoe having a back strap because the problems of gappingand buckling are of particular importance in this type of shoe,'myinvention is applicable to shoes of other types and is-so intended.

I claim; 7

A shoe comprising a shank, an upper attached thereto and extending fromthe sides thereofl'said upper being formed with an open back andprovided with a s'trap 'adapted to engage the back of the wearers foot,said shank being substantially narrower than shanksof standard shoes ofsimilar size, while having substantially the same medial line as shanksof standard shoesof similar size, and portions of the upper on oppositesides of said shank underlying the undersides of the wearers foot -onopposite sides of the shank, whereby to resiliently support said sideportions of the foot, and also to pull the strap' against the back ofthe wearers .foot, when the foot in the shoe :is :raised up n its toe toprevent gap between the strap and the back of the foot.

' RICHARD JERRO.

